2023-12-18 18:25:46

The authorities seized 18 real estate and personal property, including four businesses, seven vehicles, a simplified company and six special transportation spaces for buses.

A gang dedicated to migrant trafficking through the Darién Gap was dismantled by the Colombian Police in coordination with Interpol and nine people were arrested in the operation, local media report.

The members of the criminal group were arrested in different Colombian departments, following an investigation begun last year that established that the gang has transported at least 294 people to the southern border of the United States.

Of them, 54 managed to enter US territory.

It was determined that the migrants came from Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela, China, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Somalia, among other countries.

These people had to pay between 2,000 and 4,500 dollars, depending on their nationality and the route. It is estimated that the traffickers, who made up to four trips a week, collected more than 3,000 million Colombian pesos (regarding $750,000).

The way the criminal gang acted meant that when migrants arrived in Colombia from the borders with Brazil, Ecuador and Venezuela, they were taken to Antioquia, from where they continued on their way to Darién until they reached Panama.

To avoid problems with the Colombian immigration authorities when entering the country, the Afghans, Haitians and Pakistanis received Chilean documentation from the traffickers.

Among those arrested is the leader of the group and organizer of the migrant movements, identified as Carlos Alberto Coy García, who was found in the city of Ipiales, department of Nariño, while he was loading 19 Venezuelans onto a bus.

In addition to the arrests, the authorities seized 18 movable and immovable property, including four businesses, seven vehicles, a simplified company and six special transportation slots for buses.

All these assets add up to a value of 2,367 million pesos (593,000 dollars).

At the end of November, the organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF) warned of the “unprecedented number” of almost 500,000 people who crossed the Darien Gap in the first 11 months of the year. The number far exceeds the 248,000 people last year.

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